Shillong: Dempo SC on Sunday edged past Shillong Lajong FC 2-1 to see themselves comfortably at the top of the I-League after a match that ended three minutes short of regulation time due to crowd trouble here.
A deflection by Lajong's new signing, Renedy Singh, brushed Tuboi's body and put the home side ahead in the 81st minute of the game.
The visiting team rallied to score the equaliser in the 88th and the winner in the 90th minute through Ranti Martins.
Referee SS Panda gave them a double advantage in the 90th minute after Lajong defender Weilad was called for hand ball inside the box.
Ranti Martins took advantage when he shot the ball home.
The referee then offered another penalty to Dempo, which did not go well with Lajong's coach Pradyum Reddy.
Soon after the penalty was converted by Martins, the 23,000 odd fans started throwing bottles and stones in protest, forcing match commissioner Mrinal Kanti Roy to end the match three minutes early.
At the post match conference, Reddy attributed the crowd action to bad refereeing.
"I can understand their frustrations. We tried to calm them down but we were disappointed to see the crowd behaving like that," Reddy said.
The Lajong coach said poor refereeing cost his side the match.
"Unfortunately, it is clearly poor refereeing on the part of the officials. They are incompetent and this has always been against a small team like us," he said.
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